


Blinded by the Light of Your Smile

by Tribi



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Blind Stiles, F/M, Female Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 09:45:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1774642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tribi/pseuds/Tribi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is blindfolded, Stiles is blind, and the sidewalk is trying to kill them both.  The major death happens off screen a few years in the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blinded by the Light of Your Smile

**Author's Note:**

> for the kinkmeme prompt: http://tnw-kinkmeme.livejournal.com/2665.html?thread=471657

The door opened and Derek awkwardly cleared his throat to introduce himself, “hi, I’m Derek Hale.” He also awkwardly stuck his hand out to shake but the girl who had opened the door didn’t move to shake it. Impulsively Derek let his hand drift down to where hers was still gripping the door; as soon as he brushed against her she gave a little start and quickly felt along his fingers so she could shake his hand back.

“I’m one of the new deputies at the sheriff station and your dad sent me over,” Derek explained and Stiles decided to back up and let him enter the house.

“Would you like to come in?” she asked as she held the door open. Derek stepped into the cozy little house and followed Stiles to a den with a couch and a well-loved recliner. Derek sat on the edge of the couch and Stiles perched on the coffee table near him but not weirdly close. She seemed to know where he was because she smiled in his direction and introduced herself, “well, I’m Stiles. What brings you this way?”

Derek was glad she couldn’t see his face, he still hadn’t figured out how to say this part. “I’m a werewolf, and I’m applying for a position on the force. I, um, I think I could be a good officer and I did really well on most of the tests. All of the tests except for one actually. I failed the enhanced werewolf hearing test.”

“Really?” asked Stiles, it was very strange for a werewolf to fail one of the physical tests to get on the force.

“Yeah, there isn’t any physical explanation. I guess I might have damaged my hearing when I was young but it would have healed. So they’re kind of confused. And I really want to join the force; it’s been my thing since I was a little boy you know. I always made my cousins be the bad guys and I always had the badge.”

“So is there anything you can do?” asked Stiles although she had her suspicions.

“The nurse and your dad, - are they friends?” asked Derek suddenly.

“Co-conspirators, but, yes, also friends,” replied Stiles knowing exactly where this was going.

“Yeah, I thought they might be. So they came up with this plan where I wear a blindfold for a while and being deprived of that sense forces my hearing to improve to compensate.”

“Sounds like a plan they would come up with,” said Stiles leaning back a little on the coffee table.

“And they sent me to ask you for help,” finished Derek awkwardly.

“Of course they did,” sighed Stiles.

“So will you? Help that is…”

“What’s in it for me?” asked Stiles.

“What would you like?” asked Derek as his eyebrows twisted together; he couldn’t think what a blind person might want. That was really shitty of him but he was just so far out of his element, this all sucked.

“Would you still want my help if I said favors to be named later?”

Derek had to think about that for a while. “Would your father know about the favors or would they be behind his back?”

Stiles laughed at him, “clever, thinking that you can use my father to keep me on the right side of the law. When you start working for him you’ll learn that he isn’t that pure.”

“When?” asked Derek, “does that mean you’re going to help me?”

“I guess it does,” smiled Stiles.

 

They started the next day. It was so weird and embarrassing. The sheriff actually thought that Derek should move in with him and Stiles so he could wear the blindfold 24/7 but the nurse, Ms. McCall, wasn’t sure if that would have a detrimental effect on his eyes or not so she wanted to try it with the blindfold for about six hours a day to start with. 

They adjusted Derek’s shift so he was on first and could spend the afternoon and evening with Stiles then head home to his apartment after dinner. He had passed enough of the tests so he could be on the force but he wouldn’t have werewolf status until the hearing thing was sorted. - There were certain cool and dangerous jobs that he wasn’t allowed to do until he satisfied them. He was definitely going to get this sorted out and if he had to suck up his pride and follow around a tiny little blind girl to do that then that was what he was going to do.

By 3:15 he was back on Stiles’ porch. She led him back to the kitchen today; it was a lot easier to sit at the table together than to do that weird perching near each other thing. 

“Did you bring a blindfold?” she asked chirpily.

“Yeah, I grabbed something that should work.”

“How will I know if you cheat?” wondered Stiles.

“I won’t cheat; I want to pass that hearing test.”

"Oh, you'll cheat," replied Stiles with a smirk.

Derek put his blindfold on and sat with Stiles while she fed him tea and they talked about the things that weren't so bad and the things that truly sucked. Eventually Derek had to ask where the 'facilities' were and Stiles had to guide him there. She got him situated in front of where he needed to be and told him that her information was that blind guys generally sat down in, um, new situations.

"You were right Stiles, I'm going to cheat." Derek told her as he gently pushed her out of the bathroom and lifted his blindfold so he could peek underneath.

Back at the kitchen table it seemed like they still had so much to talk about. Derek didn't even notice the time passing until his stomach growled. "It's hard to keep track of time isn't it?" asked Stiles. "You can't see the sky getting darker; you can't notice a clock across the room."

"Yeah," said Derek, “you're right. Is it dinner time?" 

"It can be if you want it," replied Stiles easily. She got up and headed towards the fridge. 

Derek was listening as hard as he could and heard the door open and the slightly louder hum from inside the fridge. "Can you cook?" he asked. 

"As well as I ever could," replied Stiles mysteriously. 

Derek shuffled over to help her at the stove. Apparently they were having toast and eggs for dinner. It was interesting and also harrowing. At one point Stiles hissed and jerked her hand back, Derek pulled off his blindfold to see her sucking on a finger. "What happened?" he asked in his new cop voice. 

"Oh, I have this stupid habit of using my fingers to check if things are hot. It was hot."

Derek pulled her hand away from her mouth and inspected it. 

"Hey, did you take your blindfold off?" asked Stiles. 

"Of course I did," replied Derek. "You hurt yourself." He turned the sink on cold and held her hand under the water. 

"This will never work then," sighed Stiles, "I hurt myself all the time."

Derek smirked at her and then remembered she was blind, "ha ha," he said deeply from right beside her ear. He liked having the blindfold off so he could watch the blush crawl up her neck. 

Stiles cleared her throat and he shamelessly watched the muscles and cords in her throat move. "So hey, if your blindfold is still off maybe you can make bacon? I'm not allowed to, apparently I have enough scars."

Derek nodded and remembered again, "I can do that," he replied moving towards the fridge.

She made him put the blindfold back on after the bacon was done. In case she dribbled she told him with a straight face. 

Eating without seeing the food was excruciating, when he told her that she cackled and agreed. 

"I can't eat McDonald's French fries anymore, I'm afraid I might get a green one."

"What about potato chips?" asked Derek seriously. 

"Only Pringles," she told him sadly. 

They carefully washed the dishes and Stiles escorted Derek to the door. Derek didn't really feel like leaving yet though. "It feels like a nice night; care to take me for a little stroll?" 

Stiles shrugged and pulled on a jacket that was on a hook nearby, she grabbed a long white stick out of the corner too. "This must be the real reason they sent you, to get me out of the house." 

"They never mentioned it specifically," Derek assured her. 

Outside was kind of terrifying. Derek felt like he was busting his eardrums with how hard he was listening, for cars, for danger, for anything. Stiles held his hand and was kind of quiet too, he appreciated her vigilance. 

"This is terrifying," he said as he stumbled over a slight incline. 

"I know," agreed Stiles, "and still every night they're like 'did you get outside today Stiles?' Like the rapturous smell of the neighbor's flowers makes this worthwhile."

"I don't smell any rapturous flowers but I'm pretty sure there's a dead skunk somewhere close."

"I know, and we could walk right into it, but do they think of that?" 

When they made it back to the house alive Derek asked about the next day. 

"I have work tomorrow," Stiles told him, “but if you come at three again we can hang out for a while, maybe eat earlier and then you can ride the bus to my office with me."

Rather than do something stupid like admit out loud that he didn't know Stiles had a job Derek just agreed to everything. He had to take the blindfold off to drive home so he took it off while Stiles was still standing next to him. So he could look at her again. 

She did have some scars, a thick twisty one that cut across her shoulder and a flat shiny one that curled around her neck on the opposite side. There were probably others that he couldn't see but those two weren't so bad. He hated that he was too awkward to just ask her how she had lost her sight or how she had gotten those scars. It felt like it was too late to ask now, not after he had spent the whole day with her, not on the sidewalk when he was about to drive off.

Instead he just drove off and hoped that it might come up naturally the next day.

Work was interesting and challenging even if he had to sit at a desk all day. He realized that they would probably start him out this way even if he had passed the stupid hearing test. Being oh so familiar with this paperwork would make him a better officer. At least that’s what he repeated to himself until it was time to visit Stiles again. 

He thought about putting the blindfold on in the car but her front steps were steep so he waited until he was on the porch. Even then he wanted to cheat as he felt around for the doorbell. Soon enough he heard Stiles’ voice and the door squeaking as it swung open. Derek felt weird not knowing what she was wearing today, which was odd because he didn’t usually care about those things.

“Are you blindfolded already?” asked Stiles.

“Yeah,” said Derek.

“I thought so, I can hear you thinking. Don’t strain anything,” and she somehow found his hand to lead him back to their kitchen again.

“So what are you thinking?” she asked after they were seated at the table again.

Derek smiled at himself, “actually I was wondering what you’re wearing today. It’s weird because I didn’t think that I noticed things like that but it’s like there’s a picture of you in my head from yesterday and I was just wondering.”

“That’s kind of sweet I guess. Do I even know what I’m wearing, that’s the question. Jeans, I almost always wear jeans and a polo shirt. I don’t know what color the polo shirt is, most of them are boring colors that go with jeans. Well, in my world everything goes with jeans, I mean even before the accident everything went with jeans. So whatever. There, that’s your answer, jeans and a polo shirt.”

“I’m wearing jeans and a henley.”

“Are you packing heat Deputy Hale?” asked Stiles’ coyly.

“I left it in the car, I don’t trust us not to hurt ourselves with it.”

“Good point,” said Stiles. “I used to know how to work them, I used to go shooting with my dad.”

“You could still go; your dad could point you in the right direction and lie to you that you got all bulls eyes.”

“Fun fun fun,” said Stiles. “I like you; you’re really terrible at talking to blind people.”

“It’s probably the blindfold,” Derek told her honestly. Stiles laughed and laughed while Derek spluttered and tried to explain that without the blindfold he probably wouldn’t have said anything at all.

The bus ride was interesting. Derek knew that as a part of the sheriff’s force he would be asked to do dangerous things. With his natural healing abilities danger didn’t mean the same things to him as it did to others; he could be shot or burned and recover fully. Those were things that he expected, and to some extent, he looked forward to proving himself in meeting those challenges. Not just because he had seen too many movies but because it was through that sort of selfless, fearless, action that his kind had proven themselves to the humans, had earned their acceptance and a place in society.

Riding the bus without really knowing for one-thousand percent sure that it was even the right bus, riding the bus without knowing if people were staring at him or not, riding the bus without knowing when to expect swerves or stops, riding the bus without his vision was terrifying. Stiles was quiet too, Derek assumed that was because she was concentrating on her other senses and he tried to do the same. He turned to his sense of smell first because that was always his second best sense.

His nose told him there were a lot of people on the bus, he could almost tell how many based on their breath as they exhaled. Derek wished that smelling was not his second best sense and that his first impulse would be to listen carefully instead of opening himself up to forty different versions of halitosis. He took a deep breath and tried to center himself again. The sun was warm on his right arm and that was the one that should be closest to the window, so if that was south then maybe they were heading east and east was generally where the light industrial buildings were situated on the edge of town.

So, he was on a bus heading possibly easterly with about forty other people on it, not too shabby he congratulated himself. He felt his mouth move to smile and ignored it since he couldn’t see anyone looking curiously at him and feel self-conscious. He thought about asking Stiles where they were going so he could confirm the easterly route but then he thought about just eavesdropping to see if he could learn more. Even a regular person could eavesdrop on a bus pretty easily.

The first word he hears is blindfold. Then the word blind just seems to pop up all over the place, sometimes followed by girl sometimes followed by other words. They seem to think she’s giving him a lesson, or at least that he’s learning something. He is learning something. Derek listens closer and resolves that if he hears something really inappropriate he will pull up the blindfold and flash his eyes at them, maybe a little fang too. The thought cheers him.

And then suddenly all the chatter changes to questions about stops, is this our stop, do we get off here, stop, stop, stop, the people say and Derek listens harder to try and catch a name. But Stiles hasn’t even told him which stop is theirs, he wonders if he should ask. It might help him to place things in his head but maybe there’s a reason she didn’t tell him. When he rides the bus with other people do they usually tell him where they’re going? He can’t remember if he’s ever ridden the bus with another person before, it’s hard to remember the last time he rode a bus actually. He always has his own car.

Now his head is spinning with guilt, and he’s thinking about how he’s more privileged than everyone else in yet another way. But seriously, he just wants to be the sheriff department werewolf. He just wants to help people with his abilities. 

Suddenly he hears a voice, the bus driver maybe, call out to Stiles that they’re at her stop. He feels fingers wrap around his wrist and while they haven’t moved very far at all away from each other since they started this adventure Stiles still pauses and asks, “Derek?” to make sure perhaps that she hasn’t just grabbed a stranger.

Derek slides his hand around until their fingers are entwined and follows her off the bus.

When they reach the ground, and it’s kind of sad that Derek sort of wants to kiss it, he has to laugh a little about how he always over complicates things. “I was trying to figure out how you would know when to get off the bus. I was eavesdropping on people and wondering if they would say the name of the street, or I was thinking about you memorizing all the turns and about how long it usually takes, but just knowing the bus driver and asking for help is genius.”

“It might be genius but I actually know about four of the regular bus drivers and their shifts always change, my shifts change. It’s a terrible way to do it. I can usually tell when we’re getting close because there’s a bakery nearby that I can usually smell. And a lot of the regular riders know me too now and sometimes they’ll let me know when we’re at my stop if the driver doesn’t. It’s like a community effort to get me to work some days and I don’t know. It’s nice to know people don’t suck but sometimes I think it would be nicer if I trusted myself to manage it solo.”

Derek made a humming noise that he hoped she could hear over the sounds of them walking, he wasn’t sure how to respond to what Stiles had shared. He could say something about how he trusted her or how social networks were important no matter what and that it was kind of nice she had a reason to reach out to people, but he saw her points too and didn’t feel like saying something trite just to say something. Hopefully the hum would be enough. His sister Laura always said that he relied on his eyebrows to do all his talking and maybe he did because not being able to use them now kind of sucked.

Stiles stopped and Derek crashed into her. He was too wrapped up in his own head and he’d somehow forgotten that he was walking blindfolded to an unknown destination. Stiles stumbled a bit but he yanked her back and they stood there leaning on each other and recovering for a moment. Finally Stiles announced, “we’re here, there are two steps and then a heavy glass door. You did really well for a while there when you weren’t thinking about it.”

“Thanks,” replied Derek, “I’ll try not to kill you on the steps.” He imagined that Stiles smiled before she led him up the steps.

Once inside they walked down a muffled carpeted hallway and then opened another heavy door. Derek could smell the perfume of a person nearby so he didn’t jump too badly when a voice called out hello to Stiles. Erica introduced herself and Derek formed an immediate picture in his head of what he guessed she looked like. When she asked if the blindfold was for some sort of sex game the picture got even clearer but suddenly Derek didn’t want to take his blindfold off anymore.

Of course Stiles turned to him and told him to take it off just then, it wasn’t like he would be able to find his way home with the blindfold on anyway. “She wants you to take it off now so later on when you guys are alone you can describe all of us to her in excruciating detail,” Erica helpfully pointed out.

Derek peeled off his blindfold a little quicker just so he could watch Stiles splutter and blush. The Erica that was smiling at him from behind a nearby desk was younger and softer than she had sounded. She was very pretty too but Derek only glanced at her before turning all of his attention back to Stiles.

Stiles was wearing a black polo shirt and it was more feminine than he had imagined, there were tiny little gathers along the shoulders and it cut in sharply at her waist to follow the line of her body. Her jeans were just jeans he supposed but they looked nice enough on her. She looked nice enough but maybe not someone who would grab Derek’s attention just walking down the street.

“Those blue blockers are the worst,” said Erica echoing Derek’s thoughts. “You look like that Korean guy with them on, the evil one.”

Stiles ducked her head down and fiddled with her cane. “My friend Scott said that I have dead shark eyes and the blue blockers were preferable.”

“What about something more Geordi La Forge?” suggested Erica who had clearly been waiting for this opening, possibly for months.

“Are you sure that would be better?” asked Stiles dubiously.

Erica made a humming noise and turned to Derek. He knew she was going to at some point. “Derek what do you think?” she asked with an evil smile that poor innocent Stiles couldn’t see.

“If you’re the one that’s bothered by the blue blockers then maybe you should try to come up with something better.”

Erica made a happy squealing noise, “you’re right! I don’t know what I was thinking before, it’s not like I’m going to like anyone else’s choice anyway really.” She turned a very serious face to Stiles, “I am going to spend my whole weekend at the Sunglass Hut and I’ll save the receipts. You have a shift on Monday so we’ll do a fashion show.”

“Fine,” sighed Stiles who was still kind of pink.

“It is California Stiles, the right sunglasses are crucial,” said Erica who might have just been noticing how pink Stiles was.

Derek nudged Stiles with his shoulder, he realized that he had let go of her hand when he took off his blindfold and he felt kind of bad that he couldn’t grab it again. Except he actually could, he reached down and wrapped their fingers together, “show me your desk?” he asked.

Erica smiled and winked ridiculously at him so Derek scowled at her and finally Stiles led him away. There were a lot of white canes resting against desks and Derek felt like an absolute dick as he wondered how many blind people actually lived in Beacon Hills. Stiles seemed to know exactly what he was thinking as usual, “so my job is to talk on the phone with people, we operate a general help line and route calls or answer some of them ourselves. Almost half of us are sight-impaired so that’s really awesome, they understand that you can’t rearrange all the desks over the weekend and not expect a crisis on Monday morning.”

“I haven’t met him,” she continued, “but they told me that the company founder has a blind son and he got pissed off when his son couldn’t find a job so he started the whole company. There are other branches and stuff all around the country now. I’m lucky that it’s just one bus for me to get here, some people take two and spend a lot more time commuting.”

“That’s pretty awesome,” said Derek. “I know I started this to hear more but I’ve learned a lot more than that.”

“Yeah, well it’s been like two days so you probably haven’t actually improved your hearing.”

Derek sighed, “is it your job to be nice to the people on the phone? Do you use it all up on them?” he teased.

Stiles smiled so big and so bright that Derek wished he had sunglasses on too, but not blue blockers because those things were awful.

 

They needed an outing for the next day and Derek suggested the park. 

Stiles made a tired and unhappy face, “okay,” she said, “but it’s hard to get there on the bus.”

“I can drive,” Derek offered. “I know it’s against the rules and all, but I had to sit at a desk all morning and I really want to stretch my legs.”

“Okay,” said Stiles and Derek felt weirdly pleased.

They strolled arm in arm along the path that circled the tiny little lake in the center of the park and Derek tried to judge how close the ducks were getting based on their quacking. Stiles kept up a steady commentary of the ways they could be killed while they followed the tap tap tapping of her cane.

Derek was too awkward to ask how blind people managed money so he peeled off his blindfold and bought them two ice creams. It was a pretty great day.

They had a lot of pretty great days all in a row, a totally stupid voice in Derek’s head called a lot of them dates but whatever, Derek was noticing some sort of improvement in his hearing. He was sure of it.

About two weeks after they started meeting, just as Derek was leaving for the day Stiles awkwardly stopped him at the door. Derek decided it was close enough to the end that he could quietly remove his blindfold and look at Stiles. Her cheeks were pink he saw, and she had new sunglasses that were pretty flattering on her –or at least they were age appropriate. Not that Derek even really knew how old Stiles was.

“So, um, tomorrow is Scott’s birthday and we have some things planned so I won’t be able to hang out with you. Train you? Whatever this is?”

“Help me,” supplied Derek. “You’ve been helping me a lot Stiles, and I really appreciate it.” Derek’s voice got a little husky without his permission and he looked away and then looked back and touched the back of her hand where it was resting on the door. He liked how they were always touching when they were out stumbling around in the darkness together. Stiles let go of the door and laced her fingers with his.

“Have a fun day tomorrow. Can I come over the next day? Should I call you?” he asked.

“The next day should be fine. Thanks Derek.”

Derek wanted to kiss her but that was weird because she talked about Scott a lot and she was blowing him off tomorrow for Scott so he probably shouldn’t kiss her. Instead he squeezed her hand and said goodbye.

 

He was mopey at the sheriff’s office as his shift came to an end the next day. He didn’t really know where to go or what to do if Stiles was busy. The sheriff noticed and called him into his office.

“So, how are things going Derek?” he asked. “Do you think the blindfold thing is helping at all? We can test you again anytime you want or refer you to a physician…”

Derek shuffled around awkwardly, the sheriff was obviously giving him an out in case he was tired of meeting with Stiles every day. He wasn’t tired of Stiles, but he wasn’t sure it was helping and he really did want to pass that stupid test. Luckily the sheriff was used to him being broody and not answering questions right away.

“Well, think about it. Do you two have plans for this afternoon? I’m sure you and Stiles have concluded that Melissa and I are a bunch of busy body match-makers but,” the sheriff sighed and gestured to the door. Derek closed it for him and came to sit down in front of the desk.

“I heard about your trips to the park and the ducks and all the stuff like that, I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you giving Stiles a reason to go outside. I worry about her sitting around that house alone all the time, or trying to get to that job of hers. The job is great, it’s a good company, but she won’t let me send a patrol car to take her there and if she gets a cab then it eats up all of what she earned for the day.” The sheriff peered nervously out his window, “I did get Erica to set her up for late shifts at least so that the bus isn’t running when she needs to come home; that way she has to let me pick her up or send a patrol car for her.”

Derek smiled at the sheriff, “if she ever found out about that sir…”

“I know, I know. She doesn’t even know that Erica and I talk to each other. And we do, almost daily. Which I’m not sure that’s necessary but I’m a little afraid of that girl.”

Derek smiled more and then remembered that the sheriff had asked him a question about the afternoon. “Stiles told me she had plans for Scott’s birthday. I guess they’re going somewhere?”

The sheriff’s smile dropped away and he aged in front of Derek. Derek found himself leaning forward and starting to shift. The sheriff noticed and tried to relax, he folded his hands and after a long moment he gave Derek a sympathetic look. “Scott’s dead son, he died in the car accident where Stiles lost her vision.”

“Oh,” said Derek in a small voice. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, she talks about him…”

“Yeah, she talks about him as if he’s still alive doesn’t she?”

Derek felt a chill go down his back, oh Stiles he thought.

“She knows that he died. I know she does. But, I don’t know therapists. Some of them say it’s like a crutch and to leave it alone until she decides. She spends so much time in her own head, so much time daydreaming about the past in that stupid house all alone all day…”

The sheriff turned to Derek and there were tears in his eyes, “I’m sorry son. This was all a terrible idea.” He looked at the window on to the bullpen again and covered his face with his hands, not that they hadn’t seen the sheriff bawl his stupid eyes out in his office before. Maybe that was why Erica called him every day, to tell him that Stiles had arrived at work safely, to tell him that he needed to throw out her pink shirt and get her one without a ketchup stain down the front.

Derek was feeling hot and cold himself, he had always known that the sheriff was playing matchmaker with him and Stiles. The whole blindfold thing was pretty feeble but he liked Stiles and he was kind of lonely when he wasn’t at work so he hadn’t minded. And now to find out that she was mental, a little mental. The more Derek thought about it the less surprised he was actually, Stiles was really mental actually, that was one of the things he liked about her.

His hand surprised him by reaching out to grip the sheriff’s arm. The sheriff looked up a little surprised too. “It’s okay sir, I understand and I don’t mind. Not really.”

The sheriff looked unconvinced but he smiled anyway.

“Was Scott her boyfriend?” Now Derek’s mouth was surprising him, was it jealousy that had him asking that?

The sheriff nodded and dabbed at his eyes, “boyfriend, best friend, play mate, soul mate, I hate to say it but they really were a special kind of couple.”

Derek didn’t know what to do with that information now that he had it. The sheriff stood up and walked over to one of his filing cabinets, not even glancing at the drawer labels, barely even glancing at the file before he pulled it out. He handed it to Derek but didn’t let go right away.

“This is the accident file, I think you should look it over and let me know if you have any other questions. It’s probably easiest this way.”

Derek nodded and took the thick, worn file to his desk, it wasn’t like he had anywhere to go that afternoon.

The accident pictures are so horrible, everything is horribly horrible. The forms and the notes are all very matter of fact and by-the-book but the pages reek of anguish. There are smears and shaky lines, the corners of the file folder are soft from use. Derek sits at his desk for a long time not even seeing the pages anymore, just thinking. 

He felt like everything had changed even though, really, nothing had changed. Stiles had always seemed a little unbalanced and he had kind of liked that about her, that edge of unpredictability. And Derek had been a little suspicious of Scott before if he was honest with himself. There were times when he found himself sniffing the house for the scent of anyone besides Stiles and her dad and he had always been a little reassured and a little sad for them that he never smelled anyone else. He just hadn’t realized at the time that he was sniffing for this Scott guy, this other man that Stiles would drop him for, even dead.

Nothing really had changed Derek realized as he finally flipped the folder closed and snapped off his desk light. The bullpen was pretty quiet now, the sheriff had left too. Derek hoped he went home early to be with Stiles. He wished he could be with Stiles too, he wouldn’t mind drinking a toast to the handsome young man with the soft brown eyes who had died much too young.

Like most red-blooded twenty somethings Derek preferred to text but even though he knew Stiles had an app that read her text messages to her that seemed stupid so he called her. He wanted to see if he should come over that evening and he was trying to plan some kind of outing because that seemed like a good idea, maybe they could go out to eat. Talking to her on the phone was as easy as sitting at the kitchen table talking to her and he only tore himself away when the desk clerk started making kissy faces at him so he would hang up and cover while she went on break.

After that they talked on the phone a lot and went out a lot and it was all really kind of nice except Derek failed another hearing test and went to see a specialist who suggested breaking his eardrums to see if they healed correctly.

“Are you going to try it?” asked Stiles when he vented to her about the visit.

“No, how could you think I would?” demanded Derek.

“I thought you really wanted to pass that test?”

“There’s no guarantee it won’t make things worse. I’m not deaf now and I could be if my eardrums don’t heal.”

“Why wouldn’t they heal?” asked Stiles.

“Why can’t I pass the stupid hearing test now?” retorted Derek.

He was really upset about this Stiles realized and she reached out to find his hand. He was blindfolded so it took a while for them to connect but he squeezed back tightly. Stiles was glad he came in person to tell her and they weren’t on the phone where they couldn’t hold hands. She was glad they were in her kitchen too because Derek seemed a lot opener here than anywhere else. “Is there another reason Derek?” she asked softly.

“Stiles, if you’re blind and I’m deaf, how would we? How could we stay friends?” he finally asked softly as if he was unsure of himself.

“I really don’t think you’d go completely deaf,” she insisted one more time softly but then she dropped it and they talked about other things. Eventually Stiles realized that Derek needed to move and work off his agitation so they headed out for a stroll around the block. 

The sidewalks were as treacherous as ever and she almost ate the cement in front of the Green’s house even though the smell of the apple tree should have reminded her that the big bump was coming up soon. Derek caught her but it wasn’t as reassuring as not falling in the first place. Plus she still felt awkward about Derek’s reason for not breaking his eardrums on purpose so she sort of snapped at him, a lot.

“Why are you still wearing that stupid blindfold, it isn’t helping, it was never going to help and you just let me make a fool of myself in front of you!”

Derek was holding her with both arms, steadying her after her stumble, he carefully let go of her and pulled off the blindfold. Even his sigh sounded different, more intimate now that she knew he was looking at her. Stiles realized she was probably blushing and her eyes felt suddenly wet. Erica had told her that Derek was even handsomer than the usual werewolf and now she could feel him looking at her.

He didn’t say anything at first, just tucked away the blindfold and pulled her in tighter to his side, wrapping their forearms together so he could steer her better than just holding hands allowed. They walked for a while and seemed like Derek was thinking. He must have been because eventually he spoke.

“I never expected it to help either but I was new to town and didn’t really have anything better to do I guess. And I liked it a little bit too, the extra challenge of trying to figure out what was going on around me, I liked using my wits -that’s part of why I wanted to join the sheriff’s department. But Stiles if you think those are the only reasons why then you’re blinder and crazier than; well I guess I’m not sure how to finish that.”

“I thought it was the blindfold that made you say stupid things,” joked Stiles even though she wasn’t really smiling.

“It was the blindfold that gave me the courage to talk to you at all,” Derek corrected, “the stupid things are just what I always end up saying and why I needed the courage to talk.”

“Can you keep me from face planting?” asked Stiles.

“Yes,” said Derek because he had learned to not just nod.

“Okay, then I’ll talk and you protect.”

The rest of their stroll was downright pleasant and Derek had a stupid smile plastered on his face when they got back to Stiles’ house. He led her up the front steps and they paused by the door, it was strange to Derek how tiny Stiles was, she barely came up to his shoulder but she was so forceful usually that if he wasn’t looking at her he forgot. Her hair was coming out of her terrible ponytail and he brushed a piece off her face, tucking it behind her ear.

Stiles jumped a little because she hadn’t seen his hand coming and she wasn’t used to Derek reaching out like that. Bad ears or not Derek heard her breath hitch and could see her pulse fluttering in her neck, he liked having the blindfold off.

As if she could read his mind Stiles huffed, “why do I think I’m going to regret asking you to take the blindfold off?”

Derek smiled and kept his hand touching her cheek, stroking it softly. “I hope you won’t regret it,” he replied as he stared unabashedly at her mouth. It was incredible to him that he could just look and look and look now and Stiles didn’t even need to know.

But she did seem to know and she frowned at him, “Oh my god, you sound all lecherous now. You’re grossing me out.”

Derek smiled brightly at her and didn’t stop touching her face. Stiles reached out for his face too and quickly found the crinkles beside his left eye, “I knew you were smiling,” she grumbled. “You’re happy aren’t you, no you’re worse than happy I bet. You sound smitten.”

“Smitten is probably a really good word,” agreed Derek as he turned and kissed the palm of her hand before quickly stepping away and leaping from her front porch to his car, because he had to wrench himself away.

“See you tomorrow Stiles!” he called in a sing song voice.

“This is the worst thing ever,” Stiles shouted back but she was beaming too and her hand was curled up against her chest as if she didn’t want the place he had kissed to rub off on anything.

 

Before they could really get into the full swing of dating though a woman was murdered in town. Mary Ellen had grown up in town as ‘the girl with the birth defect and the wheel chair’ which had eventually given way to ‘the woman who owned the book store’ and the town was beyond horrified at her murder, they were pissed off. Nobody was more pissed than the sheriff’s department though, they were furious that a vulnerable citizen had been killed on their watch. Everyone started working insane hours chasing down every plausible theory, and more than a few that weren’t even that plausible.

Stiles knew the drill, she didn’t really close herself off she just stopped expecting anything from her dad or Derek. Which didn’t mean they forgot about her; Derek showed up one afternoon looking absolutely exhausted. He followed her to the kitchen and while they were chatting about the case (because that was all he could think about) he got up to look in her fridge for a drink. The refrigerator was distressingly empty.

Stiles heard the door open and close and shrunk in on herself a little. “I’m not that helpless,” she insisted. “The grocery on eleventh will deliver I just keep meaning to talk to my dad about it first to see if there’s anything he wants me to order and then I forget to bring it up.”

“Are you hungry now?” asked Derek in a voice that sounded neither exasperated nor worried, just controlled.

“No, I finished the milk eating cereal earlier.”

“Okay,” sighed Derek, relieved, “let me get some paper and we’ll make that list.” 

Stiles refused to let Derek go buy the food on his one afternoon off but she did let him call in the order and arrange the delivery. The situation put Stiles in a terrible mood and Derek found himself getting angry too which he really didn’t want to do on his one afternoon off. 

“Let’s get out of this kitchen,” he huffed and went to pull Stiles up. She frowned at him and twisted her arm free of his but she led the way to the front door and picked up her cane.

It was easier for Derek to breathe once they were outside and walking, he wrapped her arm around his and carefully shepherded Stiles past all the things trying to make her eat pavement. And slowly as they walked he felt the tension bleed out of her arm too. They didn’t talk much but it wasn’t awkward because there were so many other sounds for them to hear. Derek steered and listened and tried not to think of murderers on the loose or hearing tests or stubborn blind girls going to bed hungry.

The predicted rain storm cut their walk a little short and when they got back to the porch he watched Stiles bite her lip and look away and open her mouth and close it and finally he touched her cheek and told her he wouldn’t tell her dad about the groceries. Stiles tilted a small smile over his left shoulder and Derek thought about kissing her. He didn’t think she would mind but he wasn’t sure enough yet.

Once he got back to his terrible little apartment he crawled into his bed and tried even harder to not think of murderers on the loose or stubborn blind girls. His mind was chasing squirrels so hard he wasn’t even sure if he slept or not before his phone was ringing and waking him up again.

 

He met the sheriff and over half the Beacon Hills Sheriff Department huddled grimly in their slickers on the highway out by the preserve. Apparently no one else really knew what was going on because everyone looked a little half-awake as they gathered around the sheriff. He checked his watch and glanced around meeting a few eyes before he started talking, shouting really, to be heard over the rain.

“As you all know we have a murderer on the loose in Beacon Hills who preyed on a disabled citizen. I believe he may have struck again, my daughter Stiles never showed up for work this evening.” The sheriff paused to swallow hard and the officers were too well trained to interrupt or freak out but they were all shaken. Shaken bad.

“We believe the murderer stole a bus and picked her up at her regular stop, the GPS tracker in Stiles’ phone lost signal right here about thirty minutes ago. So we’re going to start looking for the bus first and then Stiles.”

Derek shifted immediately and started running down the road, everyone else lurched to their cars to follow him. The city buses burned biodiesel and Derek followed the faint smell of French fries down the county road. There were all sorts of little dirt roads that the bus could have turned on to; most of them were even big enough for a bus because with all the wild fires home owners had to make sure that a fire truck could make it to the house for their insurance coverage.

It was dark in the rain but the mud would make tire tracks on the dirt roads easy to see, Derek was sure that some people were hanging back and doing that to double check his work. They didn’t need to though; Derek was certain he could find this bus and find it now. After about five miles, not that Derek had any idea of how far he had run, the scent took a right and headed up a twisty but wide road.

Derek ran even faster now, confident that the bus had to stay on this road. It went up and up and finally broke free in a clearing. The rain was falling in sheets now but the bus was right there parked neatly next to some huge vacation house. Derek started hating the owners immediately, it was a stupid house built in vacationer style with a giant portico and river stones and all the things that made people think of Colorado lodges and ridiculous amounts of money.

Cars slid to stops all around him and the sheriff leaped out of one to approach the bus with his weapon drawn. Derek materialized next to the sheriff, sniffing carefully. “Is she in there?” he breathed to Derek.

“I can’t tell with all this rain,” panted Derek and he wondered idly if he had ever run fast enough to get out of breath before.

They surrounded the bus and approached it carefully. After a brief staring contest Derek was allowed to go in the door first but the sheriff was right behind him and pushed him aside as soon as they saw the body lying in the aisle of the bus.

It was an unconscious middle aged man, he had been tasered and Stiles wasn’t on the bus.

The sheriff rushed back to the door to inform everyone. 

“She tasered the bastard and then she must have run,” a small cheer went up from the slickers. “Hit the sirens, arrange the high beams so they’re shining in the woods, grab the flashlights, let’s find her.”

The Beacon Hills Sheriff Department was better than average at finding lost hikers and they needed every advantage to search for Stiles. Usually they could make enough light and noise that the hiker could meet them halfway but neither of those was going to help tonight.

Derek was realizing the same things as he circled the bus trying to catch Stiles’ scent or see her footprints. The sheriff looked at him and frowned before stepping away to direct the others. A report came from somewhere that there was no sign of entry at the house, Derek walked back to the bus door and tried to think like Stiles. 

She would have her cane with her, it would leave deep holes in the mud. It would catch in the mud too and she would probably toss it away sooner rather than later. And just like that he found her cane about twenty feet from the bus, some other officer was following him Derek realized and spared a moment to be glad he didn’t have to use words, that he could just keep going. They were treating him as if he was the official squad werewolf and someone had taken up the job of following him and relaying the information back so he could stay on track. It’s smart that they do that, Derek thought to himself as he dropped to all fours and headed into the forest.

It was quieter in the woods, slightly, but he still couldn’t find the scent of Stiles. If he had a headlamp it might be easier to follow her path but he couldn’t stand the thought of going back to his car to find one, it was stupid of him not to keep one in his coat pocket instead of a flashlight. He couldn’t spare a hand to hold the flashlight now and his teeth were in the way of holding it in his mouth. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, normally he could make his teeth shift back, but not tonight. Tonight he was barely holding on.

Derek’s momentum suddenly dropped away and he realized that his handler was way behind him now and all he could hear was the rain dripping. All he could smell was mud. Suddenly he didn’t know if he was going the right way and the thought that he was going the wrong way, away from Stiles was unbearable. He froze, crouched on all fours and tried to hold back the howl that wanted to rip free. 

He set his teeth so hard to hold in the howl that his claws gouged through the mud, he felt hair spring up all along his spine and suddenly all that rage blew through his head and he did howl. He howled and it was like a sheet of vinyl that had separated him from the world was shredded. It was like he had never been a werewolf before, he had never touched this level of awareness.

He was still shaking with the aftermath when he heard a voice call him, “Derek?”

He spun and lunged towards that voice, tearing saplings and bushes out of his way as he went, the voice beckoning him towards it, “man I hope that’s you Derek because this is like some kind of fricking nightmare here and if it’s a rogue I’m just totally dead. But really the person I tasered wasn’t a werewolf right, because my puny little taser wouldn’t have worked on a werewolf and encountering a serial killer and a rogue werewolf in one night has to be infinitesimal odds, unless they were working together but why would a rogue werewolf work with a serial killer, right. So it must be you Derek crashing through the woods like a train and coming terrifyingly closer in a loud and alarming manner. Jesus can you answer me Derek?”

“Stiles,” Derek chuffed because he could barely speak, his chest was heaving so hard. It was enough though because Stiles held her arms up and tried to turn towards the voice. She was a little off to the right as always but adjusted quickly as Derek scooped her up and buried his face against her neck.

 

They didn’t get a chance to be alone together again until the next afternoon. Stiles was scowling at the kitchen table and Derek was cooking an egg sandwich with bacon for her. “I can’t believe they’re saying I caught the murderer,” she ranted.

“Why not?” asked Derek curiously because how could she rant about that?

“It implies a degree of activeness that didn’t exist, or if you assume it exists then they must think I knowingly used myself as bait, or my father did, neither of which is true. I apprehended him, maybe.”

“You tasered him to next Tuesday,” said Derek with a proud smile.

“It was on the standard setting, that also implies a level of skill and cunning that didn’t exist.”

“So it bothers you because you were scared and just reacting?” asked Derek as he set a plate down in front of her with a deliberate click.

“I guess so, is that okay?” asked Stiles unhappily.

“Of course its is,” replied Derek sitting down with his own sandwich. “Your dad let me read the accident report and it seems like people tried to say things about that accident too. Tried to make it something different to fit their own ideas, so I can see how you would be sensitive now.”

Stiles picked at her bread a little and quickly licked bacon grease off a finger. Derek kept eating but never took his eyes off her while she processed what he had said.

“You read the report?” she asked.

“Mmm hmm,” said Derek before he swallowed, and after he had wiped his mouth he clarified, “ couple of weeks ago.”

“Were you,” she started and then did her whole blushing and looking away thing, “I know that Scott died.”

“I know.”

“Sometimes I pretend, but it isn’t like an imaginary friend, it’s like I knew him so well that I know what he would say sometimes so I just pretend he’s still here and still saying those things.”

“Did he help you on the bus?” asked Derek.

“Yeah, he did, he made me feel less alone, helped me think about what to do next. And he kept telling me that you would come, that you would find me.”

Derek reached out for her hand and squeezed it, “he was right, I think you should keep him around if he makes you feel better. I don’t mind.”

“Really?” asked Stiles.

“Really,” said Derek, “unless…”

“Unless what,” asked Stiles but her lips were quirking up as if she knew what direction Derek was heading.

“Unless he tells you not to kiss me,” said Derek all in a rush because he might look like a twenty-year-old hot like burning male model but this was still awkward because Stiles mattered.

“I don’t always listen,” smirked Stiles. And then she continued, a little more soberly, “and anyway, Scotty always wants me to be happy.”

“And kissing me would make you happy?” asked Derek even as he was scraping his chair back and leaning around the table towards Stiles. Stiles could feel the heat of his breath suddenly across her cheek and she reached out to touch him, to try and calculate exactly where his face was.

“Very happy,” she murmured back as he traced the scar along her neck and stroked it with the side of his thumb. Derek had to close his eyes suddenly because it was still hard for him to cope with all that his senses had been shouting at him since he roared the other night. He could smell that Stiles was excited at the thought of kissing him, he could hear her heart beating and the mantel clock ticking and cars on the road and birds and everything still. He closed his eyes for some peace, some familiarity and then Stiles was kissing him and that was more sensory input. He kept his eyes shut tight and just held on as everything rushed through him.

That must have been why he didn’t hear the sheriff come in.


End file.
